Men's Lacrosse 2013 Season Review

Rheiner was voted to the All-CC first team and received All-America honorable mention. He set a school record with eight hat tricks on the season, and his 41 points were one short of the school record.

A comeback year for the Muhlenberg men’s lacrosse team was characterized, appropriately, by comebacks.

Four times during the season, the Mules scored a goal in the final 20 seconds of regulation to force overtime. It was that kind of “never-say-die” attitude that allowed the team to re-establish itself.

A year after going 2-12 overall and winless in the Centennial Conference, Muhlenberg finished 6-9 overall, 2-6 in the CC. The six wins  two over nationally ranked opponents for the first time in program history  matched the most since the 2008 CC playoff team won 10. Of the Mules’ six CC losses, two came by one goal in overtime and a third by two goals.

Muhlenberg scored 9.00 goals per game, its highest average in five years, led by a quartet of 20-goal scorers: senior Doug Rheiner (31), sophomore Jon Thomas (28), senior Jack Reilly (23) and sophomore Jason Mertz (22). It was the first time in program history the Mules had four players score 20 or more goals, and no other team in the CC had as many players with at least 22 goals.

The quartet came up big in Muhlenberg’s four comebacks:

 Trailing 8-0 at halftime and 10-4 after three quarters at sixth-ranked Stevens, the Mules rallied to score six goals in the fourth quarter to force overtime. The last three goals were scored in the final minute off the sticks of Thomas, Rheiner and Mertz, with the tying goal coming as the horn sounded. Stevens went on to win in overtime.

Jones, a second-team All-CC selection, was third in the CC in faceoff winning percentage (.592) and ranked 16th in Division III in ground balls per game. He finished his career with 12 points on seven goals and five assists.

 Down 9-4 at home to 13th-ranked Gettysburg with less than eight minutes left, Muhlenberg rallied for a 10-9 win. Mertz tied the game again with one second left in regulation, and Thomas netted his third goal of the game with 2:06 remaining in overtime for the win.

 In a back-and-forth shootout, the Mules jumped out to a 4-0 lead but had to come back three times in the second half against McDaniel. Reilly fed Rheiner for the tying goal with 6.8 seconds left in regulation, but the Green Terror scored in the second overtime for a 14-13 win.

 Muhlenberg scored five goals in the fourth quarter, the last by Rheiner with 14 seconds remaining, to tie Ursinus in its final game of the season. The Bears spoiled the comeback by scoring in overtime to win, 11-10.

The Mules also had games in which they didn’t need to come back late. Against 20th-ranked St. Mary’s, they opened up a 6-2 lead at halftime and went on to win, 10-6. The four-goal margin of victory was the Mules’ biggest ever in a win against a nationally ranked team. And against Swarthmore, Muhlenberg scored 15 straight goals (including a school-record-tying nine in the second quarter) in a 15-6 win, one of its most decisive ever in CC play.

A three-year starter, de Ruiter finished his career 11th on the program's all-time list with 112 ground balls. He received All-CC honorable mention.

The biggest offensive output of the season came in an 18-12 win at Richard Stockton in which the Mules had four players record hat tricks for the first time since 2004. Muhlenberg’s 10 assists in the game tied a modern school record.

Reilly (sixth with 97) and Rheiner (eighth with 90) both finished their careers in the top eight on the program’s all-time scoring list, with Reilly also finishing second with 45 assists. Thomas set a school record for sophomores with his 37 points.

Seniors Michael Carpetto (17 points) and Kyle Houston (9) and junior Tom Glancy (11) all had their best offensive seasons, while junior Casey Gill and sophomores Pat Farrell and Michael Heenan saw considerable time on attack.

Helping to set up the offense time and time again was senior Ian Jones, who shattered the school records for faceoffs won in a career (339) and season (174) and ground balls in a career (238) and season (131).

On defense, seniors Ian de Ruiter (45 ground balls, 15 caused turnovers), James Coleman (30 ground balls, 19 caused turnovers) and Zach Weiner (16 ground balls, 9 caused turnovers) and junior Danny Thomas (12 ground balls, 5 caused turnovers) started down low in front of sophomore Adam Schlauch, who in his first season as a full-time starter ranked fourth in the CC in saves per game.

Junior Jason Monroe and sophomore Nick Farmer were key reserves on defense with their long sticks, while sophomore Connor Winter and freshman Ryan Bohrod contributed as defensive middies.